The good thing about doing only largely positive critiques is that our address book is full to bursting with names of enormously talented creators who are extremely eager to chat about the world of comics on the Internet. This week, I dialed up Lucas Turnbloom, the man who has crafted memorable, whimsical characters for Imagine This and 4G. And, according to our chat, it sounds like he has at least approximately 32, 458 more ideas bouncing around in his head.
… nope, make that 32, 459.
But before we explore these ideas, there are some news items, some Herdy Gerdy, if you will (and you will, at least until Steve gets back and tells me we can’t). Among the news items I’m cleaning up:
- Molly and the Bear joins GoComics.com (1:49 via The Daily Cartoonist)
- Let’s Be Friends Again goes full-time (2:45 via Comics Alliance)
- The Gutters (3:13)
- Strewth! returns in March (3:37)
- Snowflakes guest creator Chris Baldwin steps things up (4:23)
- The Wormwood Saga getting much deserved word-of-mouth (5:49)
- Penny Arcade and the controversy of the dickwolves (6:21)
- Zach Weiner handles hotlinking with class and cleverness (7:54 via Gizmodo)
Once the business side is tended to, I take a few moments to ask Lucas about his beginnings in the biz, as well as his take on the convention-going side of being a responsible, responsive comics creator. We also delve into the divide between the new guard and the old, the differences that separate traditional creators from those who more readily embrace change and go with the Interflow. Sadly, we stop just short of solving the whole crisis. Ah well, maybe next time.
During our chat, we mention the following comics:
- Digital Strips Adventures (10:20)
- Pinkerton (12:48)
- The Superfogeys (12:56)
- The Legend of Bill (12:59)
- TellTale Radio (13:02)
- Dog Eat Doug (16:18)
Leading us between segments is none other than Lucas’ own brother, whose band, Mrs. Magician, has a new 7″ dropping on March 1. This song, “The Spells” (31:28), is one of two songs on that record, so enjoy it more than once and stop by the band’s site to pre-order your copy to have forever and ever.
On the other side, Lucas and I peek into the shallow but rich waters of a comic that has blown up across the Web these last few weeks:
- Ratfist by Doug TenNapel (34:15)
Also mentioned:
- Ghostopolis (36:19)
Like Molly and the Bear before it, this comic comes to us from one of the aforementioned old guard, or at least, older guard, a man whose portfolio more than speaks for itself. With credentials this solid, it’s hard to really critique the work before us, but with coloring this horrid and a story this agonizingly trite, you have to say something.
No, not really. This is a great start to yet another exciting comic, and it’s on the web, so it’s free! You can’t ask for more than that, but we’re also throwing in some conversation about that very comic, also, for free. All because we love our Digital Strippers.
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